What the First Astronauts Ate - Food in Space

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Subtitles: Jose Mendoza | IG @worldagainstjose

#tastinghistory #tang #astronaut

[TastingHistory]

CORRECTION! John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth, Alan Shepard was the first American to get to space.

[Allronix]

That reminds me of a sci fi convention where my sister was in charge of the hospitality (snacks and such). As we had no money for soda, we made a big industrial sized jug of Tang. Since it was the year Glenn went back to space, we covered our impoverished butts by calling it "The John Glenn Celebratory Tang Toast"

[RaulRib]

I absolutely love the hoops that Max goes through to include the Hardtack joke in as many episodes as possible.
Please never stop this.

[DoggoneNexus]

One dude invented Tang, Cool Whip, and Pop Rocks. William A. Mitchell you legend.

[wintersrevenge]

Really curious how many people see his pokemon plushies and realize how smart he his with each choice for each episode. This one is pretty simple, but he's always so methodical and persistent with this little Easter egg that he never brings any attention too. I love this so much

[Anopano]

13:03 like carcinization (all animals eventually evolve into crabs), all travel food evolves into hardtack

[allenhilburn]

When I was in high school, we had an astronaut come to the school and give a talk about the space program. After the address, he took questions, and someone asked if they really used Tang. I will never forget his reply. "Unfortunately." 🤣

[seraphale]

There are only two options of Tang dilution in any given glass of water: 1. the shadow of an orange passed over this glass an hour ago, 2. holy ascorbic acid frag grenade!!

[alishaparr]

I like that Max didn't just say this is gross, he said more like "I don't like this, but if you like key lime pie You might like it." Tang is tangy. . .

[rogerbarton]

I never had Tang pie, but my aunt used to make what she called "Chemical Pie" using bottled lime and lemon juice and sweetened condensed milk in a graham cracker crust. The acid in the citrus juice polymerized the milk proteins, and that's all there was to it.

[b.elzebub]

The soviet Cosmonaut playing a prank on his American counterpart during such a monumental historical moment has got to be one of the most wholesome things in history. That's fucking hilarious.

[johnbeauvais]

8:55, back in like 2007 I got to go to a “Lunch with an astronaut” at Kennedy Space Center, and the two astronauts there were John Young and Charlie Duke. They get to the Q&A portion and this old guy gets the microphone and asks “How did you get that corned beef sandwich past me?” The gentleman was none other than Gunter Wendt, an engineer that would strap the astronauts into their seats. It was probably the most interesting interaction I’ve ever seen.


Edit: Ok here’s how he did it, there was an accomplice, Wally Schirra, had picked up the sandwich and slipped it to Young after he had been suited up, it was tucked in a pocket in his pressure suit and since he had already been approved by the other technicians suiting him up Wendt was none the wiser.

[DVXDemetrivs]

19:01
They carried a whole lemon and onion (which were then divided into 3 parts each). According to the rules of the Soviet space program, all food had to be pre-ground or cooked so that there was no splashing or cracking into small pieces in space that could get into electronics or somewhere else. The cosmonauts were simply pleased to eat something with a structure that can be chewed, and not just swallowed

[nferraro]

Holy crap. This could lead to the weirdest collaboration video ever: Tasting History + the Hydraulic Press channel = potential banana Space-Cereal.

[margaretgodwyn]

Hello, Max. I can add a little to your story. I studied food, nutrition and dietetics at UC Berkeley from 1970-1975, and this subject came up. Our professors helped determine what astronauts (and soldiers) needed and the specifications were turned over to the food scientists. Berkeley's recommendation was to send orange juice which was served at most American breakfast tables. However, it did not reconstitute in zero gravity. Tang was chosen because it was similar to orange juice and mixed easily in space. For years after, nutritionists had to counter the idea that Tang and orange juice were equally nutritious. Tang was astronaut food, for technical reasons, but, it does not have the same nutritional benefits of real juice.

[donaldwert]

Speaking of the flavor of Tang: when my brother served in Vietnam, he asked our mother to send Tang because the water didn't taste good and he needed something to mask it.

[catherineoneal]

I grew up with Tang. When we couldn't get real orange juice my Mom gave us Tang instead and told us "If it's good enough for the astronauts, it's good enough for us." I loved it, haven't had it in awhile, but this is a super easy "no bake" dessert that would be perfect for the summer. I'm going to buy some next time I go shopping and make it. Thanks Max for this awesome recipe.

[qawsedrf]

Side note on Cool Whip. I learned about this while working as a contractor for NY factory. There are different kinds of Cool Whip. A sweeter version goes to Canada and a version with less air whipped in was made for transportation to the west coast- less air to prevent containers popping when they go over the Rockies

[Blondie]

More of a drinking history thing: I know of a cocktail made for the moon landing in '69. A bartender at the Savoy American bar in London came up with a cocktail: "The moonwalk" which has grand marnier, grapefruit juice, and rose water. It was shared with NASA and reportedly was the first thing Buzz Alderan and Niel Armstrong drank after returning to Earth.

[JBSouls]

My 3 favourite things in these videos:

a) somehow fitting the hardtack **clack clack** into any video
b) Max's face when he doesn't like the food during tasting
c) the food history / anecdotes :3